Orthopedists failed to disclose over 20% of the payments they receive from makers of hip and knee replacements when presenting research related to the companies' products, a new study found. In the study, researchers measured the accuracy of disclosures by orthopedic surgeons who presented research at the March 2008 annual meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, by comparing the doctors' disclosures against a similar list published by five makers of hip and knee implants.
Healthcare in Texas ranks among the worst in the nation, dragged down by large numbers of uninsured and by the nation's most porous safety net, according to a scorecard and analysis released by the Commonwealth Fund. Texas was ranked last in access to healthcare, and in equity—a measure of how minorities and low-income patients fared in the state's medical system. Texas also has some of the nation's strictest eligibilily requirements for Medicaid insurance.
Older Independence Blue Cross policyholders in three Philadelphia-area counties are receiving letters telling them that their Personal Choice PPO 65 Medicare Advantage plans will end at the close of the year. The decision affects 7,300 policyholders in Montgomery, Delaware, and Chester Counties in Pennsylvania.
An inquiry by the nation's top securities regulator into whether Hospital Corporation of America tampered with payroll records to bill for phantom nursing shifts in London could influence when the hospital chain's private equity owners take the company public again, one stock analyst said. Legal observers, however, said HCA could still go forward with plans for a potential sale of stock to the public while it's being investigated. But the company would have to make required disclosures about the probe in any initial securities filing related to an offering.
As Democratic leaders prepare to bring healthcare legislation before the full House and Senate for votes, they soon must decide who will be taxed to pay for expanding coverage. Legislation emerging from the House would slap a surtax on upper-income people. But many Democrats fear the political fallout over voting to raise anyone's income taxes. The most prominent Senate bill would impose a tax on insurance companies that provide expensive policies, sometimes called "Cadillac" plans. But labor unions oppose the idea, saying the tax would be passed on to workers in the form of higher premiums or shrunken benefits.
To meet patient demands for comfort and to keep them happy in an increasingly competitive market, Boston-area medical institutions, including Newton-Wellesley Hospital and Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital-Needham, have recently completed renovations that add more private inpatient rooms. Joe Kirkpatrick, senior vice president for healthcare finance and managed care at the Massachusetts Hospital Association, told the Boston Globe that many healthcare centers in the state have begun reinvesting in their infrastructure in recent years after a long dry spell between 1995 and 2005.